Painted Fingernails
by LiveLaughLoveFP
Summary: Something unexpected happens at the Team One barbecue party at the Wordsworth house. No slash! Please R&R!


"Hey guys," Wordy poked his head in the doorway of the men's change room after shift, "I just got a call from Shelley. We were thinking of having a barbecue on Saturday and we wanted to invite you guys and your families." Calls of "I'm in," echoed around the room and Wordy smiled. "We're planning for about 3 till whenever. Don't worry about bringing anything. If it rains, we'll be inside." With a final wave, he made his way out of HQ, quickly followed by the entire Team One. This weekend get-together was exactly what they needed after a stressful few weeks.

~o~

Sam was simply enjoying the sun and the company when he felt his soldier senses tingle. Someone was watching him. Even after a few months out of Afghanistan, he couldn't help but still feel on edge. Without moving, he scanned the area in front of him. Seeing nothing, he turned casually and glanced across the roof tops, finishing with Wordy's house. His eyes caught on a flash of movement in one of the upstairs windows as a small, blonde head ducked out of view. Sam allowed himself a small smile, _'I must be out of practise if a six year old can spot what I'm trying to do.'_ Catching Wordy's eye from where he stood across the yard, Sam gestured towards the house and mouthed, 'Bathroom?" Wordy grinned and used SRU hand signs to signal back 'inside and to the right.' With a wave of thanks, Sam jogged over to the house, pausing for a second to allow his eyes to adjust to the darker interior. Drawing from his memories, he strode down the hallway and found himself at a flight of stairs. Leaving his shoes at the bottom, he climbed silently, glancing at the many pictures of the Wordsworth family that lined the staircase. Walking softly down the carpeted hallway, he gently pushed open the second door to the left. Clair sat listlessly playing with a few dolls near the window, dressed in a fluffy princess gown and feathery tiara.

She looked up and smiled as he stepped into her room, "Hi Uncle Sam." Walking over to her, he sank down on his knees next to the window, "Hey Claire. What are you playing?" The little girl's gaze darkened and she mumbled something unintelligible. Sam sighed silently and glanced out the window to the patio. Shelley, Sophie and Jules sat under the shade of the pavilion, Shelley balancing baby Allie on her hip. Wordy, Ed and Greg had claimed the lawn chairs near the barbecue, Wordy occasionally standing to check the burgers. Clark lounged near the pool, completely absorbed in his Game Boy. Spike pushed 4 year old Lily on the swing, joking with Lew who sat on top of the attached jungle gym. Pulling his gaze back inside the room, he cast about for another topic to try to bring Claire out of her shell. He finally landed on her freshly painted finger nails, "Your nails look really pretty Claire. Did you do that yourself?" The girl brightened, holding out her hand to look at her fingers, "I did! Pink is my favourite colour." She paused for a moment, before continuing, "Uncle Sam?"

He smiled at the tone – she wanted something. "Yes?"

"Can I paint your finger nails? Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let me do theirs today because people were coming over." She looked up hopefully at him.

"I...uh...I don't..." He stuttered, already imagining the looks on his teams' faces when he showed up again with painted finger nails.

"Please?" As she looked up at him with huge puppy eyes, he felt himself melt. How could he say no?

"Okay, maybe just one..."

"Yay!" Immediately, a huge grin split Claire's face and she pulled him over to a small table. "Mommy says that when I use nail polish, I have to do it here."

"Your mommy's a smart lady," he replied as she spread out one of his hands on the table top. Pulling the box of nail polish towards him, he hunted vainly for at least one that wasn't pink and sparkly. Finally finding an older looking dark purple one, he held it out to her, "Can we use this one?"

She shook her head, "No! We need to use this one!" Pulling the box back, she dug through, picking out the brightest pink one in the collection. Sam looked from the nail polish to the hopeful face in front of him and gave in. "Alright. Go ahead." '_Shelley has got to have some rubbing alcohol somewhere in this house. There is no way I'm going outside like this.'_ He smiled and sat back for a long wait as Wordy's daughter bent over his fingers.

~o~

Wordy looked around the backyard, shading his eyes from the sun. "Food's ready! Come and get it!" Standing at the barbecue, he flipped burgers onto the plates that passed before his eyes. With everyone served, he dished up one for himself and noticed two patties left on the grill. _'That's weird, who'd I miss?' _He thought for a minute, glancing around the patio. _'That's right! Where's Sam?'_

"Hey Eddie?" Ed glanced up, his mouth full of burger. "Watch my stuff for a minute? I gotta run inside." Ed nodded and Wordy made his way into the house. _'Sam said he was going to the bathroom – I hope he didn't fall in.'_ Grinning at the thought, he checked the downstairs bathroom first. _'He's not here. Maybe he went to the upstairs one?'_

Padding softly up the stairs, he decided to check on his oldest daughter while he was there; make sure she had something to eat. Passing the doorway to the nursery, he expected to hear only soft murmurings or silence coming from his daughter's room. Instead, he could begin to hear high-pitched little-girl giggles followed by a deeper voice exclaiming, "No Claire! I said yes to the nails and yes to the crown but you are not putting me in a tutu!" Claire responded again and Wordy could make out her pleading tone. Knowing full well that Sam would end up in the tutu sooner or later, he back-tracked down the stairs and into the family room. Grabbing their video camera, he hurried silently back up to the second floor, suddenly glad that Claire had talked him into buying the video camera that came with photo capabilities. Sinking into his best SRU approach-crouch, he stalked towards the open doorway. Pausing outside the door, he muffled the start-up sound of the camera in his shirt. He wanted no chance of Sam spotting him. Glancing sneakily around the doorframe, he brought the camera up to his face and couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped him. Claire looked up with the biggest grin on her face and waved to him, "Hi Daddy! Come see!" Still giggling madly, Wordy turned the camera on Sam in time to see him cover his face with his hands – with bright pink finger nails!

"Sam..." Wordy sing-songed, "Sammy...Are you going to look at the camera?" _'This is priceless!_' When Sam shook his head despairingly, Wordy continued, repeatedly pressing the button to take photos, "But you look so pretty Samtastic. Please, show the nice camera. Come on now. Don't be shy." Finally, Sam lowered his hands and levelled a glare at Wordy that would have terrified any other man. Wordy simply continued to shake with suppressed laughter. Claire glanced between the two men, "We're playing dress up Daddy. Uncle Sam let me paint his fingernails."

Wordy smiled at his daughter, "I see, Claire. You both look so pretty. Why don't you go show Mommy and everyone else how pretty you look?" Claire beamed at the praise and raced downstairs; Wordy could hear her clear voice through the window as she called out to Shelley. Wordy kept the video camera carefully centred on Sam as the younger man stood up from his low seat and began to pull off the pink tutu. "Aw, c'mon Sam. Don't you want to show everyone?"

Sam scowled at his friend, "No, I don't. Your daughter is a menace, Wordy. How much would it take to convince you to give me that camera and forget about all of this?"

Wordy shook his head, "No amount Sam. There is nothing you can offer me that beats this video. This was too priceless." His face softened, "I have to thank you though. I haven't seen Claire this happy in a while. She's been kinda down recently. You put such a smile on her face."

Looking up from his efforts to scrape the pink nail polish off, Sam smiled, "I couldn't resist her. She looks so much like..." Sam swallowed hard, "...like this girl I used to know." He grinned suddenly, "Plus, she's your daughter. She knows how to get her way."

Wordy nodded, "That's very true." He carefully turned the video camera off and pointed to the bathroom across the hall, "Shelley keeps the nail polish remover in there. I have to admit, I've needed to use it more than once."

Sam nodded his thanks and turned to go, but Wordy stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "Just so you know, I'll be keeping this camera close to me for the rest of the evening. Don't even think about using your super-sneaky-sniper-skills to get it away from me." Sam grinned and saluted his teammate before continuing across the hall.

Wordy made his way back outside, collecting his burger from beside the barbecue. Ed looked up from his conversation with Greg as Wordy plopped himself down next to them, "Hey Wordy, what took you so long?"

"Had to check on Claire," he mumbled around a mouthful of food. The men nodded and Wordy waved Sam over from the house, "Sam! I've got a couple of burgers here for you!"

"Thanks," Sam responded shortly, eyeing the video camera on Wordy's lap. Spike and Lew wandered over from the pavilion and Spike grinned at Sam, "Hey Samtastic! You were in there a long time; didja have some trouble?"

"Everyone notices everything," Sam grumbled into his burger. Raising his voice, he spoke sharply, "I had to take a call. My mother." The other men looked confused at his sudden mood change but Wordy smothered a chuckle. If only they knew what they had missed.

**AN:** This was inspired by a clip shown on my local news of one of the anchors, who looks vaguely like Sam, at his daughter's birthday party getting his nails painted. I thought it was cute. I hope you guys like this. I thought it was funny. I do not own Flashpoint or any of the characters. Not even the name 'Claire' - to whoever made that name for her, you know who you are (I don't). Please R&R.


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